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Ask the experts: The gardener

Centipedes are reddish brown in colour and have long, thin, flat bodies with one pair of legs per body segment. They are carnivorous insects and harmless to plants. To escape from the heat of the sun, they hide in damp, dark places, emerging at night to feed on plant pests such as vine-weevil grubs, slugs and mites. So they should be considered garden friends and left to their own devices. If you want to encourage centipedes, provide them with plenty of cover and shelter: create log and rock piles in quiet corners, keep mulches topped up and allow areas of grass to remain undisturbed, especially at the base of hedges.

Why do my orangerooted carrots have green crowns?

D Pearce, by e-mail

If carrot tops are exposed to sunlight while growing, they often turn green. The most likely cause of